Wednesday, 6 June 2012

The common language of pots and pans

The common language of pots and pans

I
am sitting in a cafe in Calgary crying while I watch another joyous and
beautiful video of the pots and pans marches in Quebec – "The Sound Your Life Makes." I
don't know if it is the inspiring music of ordinary people coming into
the streets to defy an unjust law; the awesome courage and determination
of the Quebec students; or the shifting sands of the global youth
uprising, but for the first time in my lifetime there is a solidarity
movement growing in Canada for the people of Quebec.
Wednesday night in more than 60 cities and towns across Canada,
people went out into the streets with pots and pans to demonstrate their
solidarity with the students of Quebec and their battle against
austerity. In Montreal now, all you need to do is walk out your door and
start banging on your pot. In the rest of Canada, it's probably a good
idea for now to check out where people are meeting in your town on the Casseroles Canada Facebook page. The next one will be on June 6.
I've been working to bridge the divide between Canada and Quebec
pretty well my whole adult life. It started with the War Measures Act
when a few of us, including the brave NDP under the leadership of Tommy
Douglas, stood up against the War Measures Act. That was a turning point
in my politics when I realized that the Canadian government was just as
capable of repression and violence as the U.S. government. To see
Montreal occupied by the Canadian army and people rounded up and jailed
for their politics was a deeply radicalizing experience for me.
Then during the first Quebec referendum in 1980, I worked with a
group of about 30 people in Toronto on the Committee to Defend the Right
of Quebec to Self-determination. Most of us didn't want to see Quebec
leave Confederation but we deeply believed that it was their right to
make that decision and that the English media and the federal government
were distorting the issues and creating hysteria, which we sought to
counter. We were isolated but we stood up for what we thought was right.
Just before I became President of the National Action Committee on
the Status of Women (NAC) in 1990, the FFQ (Quebec Federation of Women)
left NAC mostly because most women's groups in English Canada opposed
the Meech Lake Accord and its distinct society clause. A few of us
fought that position unsuccessfully at first, but when I became
president we were successful in developing a different vision of Canada
as a nation of nations containing Quebec, First Nations and the rest of
Canada, each of which should have the right to self-determination. When
we had a chance to talk to Canadians about this kind of solution during
the Charlottetown Accord, there was a lot of support.
But once again the English media, and in this case all the powers in
the rest of Canada, put the nix on our attempts. Then came the second
referendum, and whatever progress we had made in building bridges with
people in Quebec was once again torn apart by the federalist hysteria.
I used to go to the CAW camp in Port Elgin every year to explain the
history of Quebec and the oppression they faced for speaking French; for
example, in 1970 anglophone workers in Quebec made 30 per cent more
money than francophone workers. You couldn't get a good white collar job
without speaking English. Even Canadian union meetings in Quebec in
those days were held in English.
Almost everyone I knew in Quebec — unionists, feminists, radicals,
social democrats — was a sovereigntist. They taught me about the history
of Quebec, the oppression of the Quebecois by the Anglos and the
Church, the heroic stuggle of union activists against Duplessis, the
strongly held values of social justice and equality. They felt that the
only way to build the society they wanted was to have their own country.
We don't really learn that history outside of Quebec. The only news
we hear from Quebec is about their conflicts with the federal government
or their scandals.
The coverage of the student strike has been a
new low for the English media outside of Quebec. It is one-sided and
biased, reporting only from the perspective of the government and
focussing on the isolated incidents of vandalism.
Only days after the scathing G20 report, still the media didn't
question Bill 78, just as serious a violation of civil rights, or even
report on the thousands of arrests during the strike. Yesterday, there
was an astonishing demonstration of 400 lawyers and 200 law students
against Bill 78, and only the National Post reported it.
And in Quebec, they don't really hear much about us. I'll never
forget during the ice storm when I visited Quebec and people were upset
because no one from English Canada had helped. In fact, there was a
huge amount of money raised, but the Quebec media didn't report it.
Just a couple of months ago at a dinner party in Montreal a long-time
friend and political activist told me that she had finally come to the
conclusion that, with a few exceptions, the people of Quebec and English
Canada had nothing in common. Her reason was the lack of interest in
the student strike. The others at the table, all francophone Quebecers,
disagreed with her but she was convinced. I hope tomorrow changes her
mind.
There are two solitudes but it is mostly because the governments and
the media don't want the people of Canada and Quebec to really know what
we have in common. Language is a barrier too and not enough of us are
bilingual, especially in the rest of Canada. But now we have the
language of video and pots and pans.

Tomorrow is a historic moment in
Canada. People all across Canada will join hands across that divide and
unite in the battle of all of our lives for democracy and against
austerity. I am glad I'll be in Alberta for it. If it can happen here,
it can happen anywhere.

Make history, grab a pot or a pan and join your neighbours as part of Casseroles Night in Canada.
Show your solidarity with the courageous, determined students of
Quebec. Stand up against austerity and for the right to assemble and
protest. Build bridges based on love and solidarity that no-one will be
able to tear down.Cultivate Canada's media